LUC IN FRONT OF CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL
INSIDE!
LUC AND NEW LOVE OF HIS LIFE - LEILA
ANDRE, LOUISE AND MONIQUE - WAITING FOR ICECREAM!
The staff is very friendly and Monique gets a private audience with Dr Schuller, during which they discover that they can have a conversation in Dutch - as he is from Holland originally! After a quick walk through of the programme, it is make-up and then time for the first service. It is truly spectacular to sit within this glass church and quite overwhelming. Monique is introduced and interviewed by Dr Schuller Senior and after the first question most of the butterflies are gone. Directly after the interview, Monique is taken backstage where she does another interview for the web feed.
Callie and Luc arrive and Luc is very happy to see his mommy. The second interview is much more relaxed and more detailed and we all join the congregation for the service. During his service, Dr Schuller Junior, tells about how ignorant some Americans are. He tells the story of the government official who had to visit China. When the travel agent tells him he needs a visa for China, he is furious. He tells her that he has been to China 4 times and never needed one. She double checks and when she comes back to her, he once again tells her that during the previous four visits he never needed a visa, he only used his American Express!
After the service we walk the grounds of the church, looking at all the amazing statues, whilst waiting for Louise to pick us up. Louise is the wife of Monique’s cousin, Andre, who moved to the States about 15 years ago and is now the hairdresser of the rich and famous. They live a few miles from the church and the plan is to spend the day with them.
We are met by a big household with 6 children! Andre and Louise have been supporting the foster care program in the States since their arrival and now have an extended family, including 3 dogs - of whom one is a chiwhawa who thinks he is a lion and wants to eat everything. Louise tells us that the other puppy ate hole in their lounge set and that they had to get a new set. It is great to see Andre again, we cannot quite figure out when was the last time that we have seen each other - Andre did Monique’s hair for her matric dance - this is more than 26 years ago. Andre is also the god child of Monique’s dad and he looks remarkably very much like her dad.
Andre had injured his leg earlier the week and, much to his embarrassment, was hopping along with a walking trolley with poor Louise attending! Luc is in his element, finally having some friends to play with and he immediately takes to Lyla, who is just younger than he is.
We all have pizzas and much talking is done on trying to catch up on family news, news in South Africa and how life in the States are treating the Van Der Banks. Later in the afternoon we take a slow drive (Andre refuses to drive with Louise and is behind the wheel with injured leg and all!) to Laguna Beach to see where the rich and famous lives. We chill out on the beach - a bit cool to swim, but the kids enjoy the sand. We enjoy little Danny (who is now nearly four) and cannot stop talking!
The kids get treated to Macdonalds (now Luc is really happy!) and Andre cooks a great new variation of the Coke Chicken. We hear about them missing tomato flavoured chips and how expensive Mrs Balls is. Andre has booked a hotel for us, but in the end it gets so late that we all end up bunking in Louise Jnr’s room. We thoroughly enjoyed the “chaos” of a big family - something Callie always wanted and Monique never had the energy for!
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